This is my first time hardening tomato plants.

Different search results suggest an hour for the first day, 2 for the second, and so on for 2 weeks. All the while gradually increasing sun exposure.

Sound right?

What about the rest of the time? Back under the light for the rest of the day just like before?

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Give or take. It's not an exact science. Figure that's about accurate, 1 hour per day increasing 1 hour per day daily until they're outside all day long.

The first few days I set them in the shade, actually--what sun they get is only very late in the day when it has little remaining strength. Pouring rain, very windy, and cold days get skipped.

The rest of the time, back under the lights! Daylight (not full sun) is about 15,000 lux, somewhat brighter than my quad lights. Direct sun is about 70,000 lux or more in March and April. Overcast sky is 100 to 1,000 lux depending on the density of the overcast (1,000 being more normal).

If you add up the lux (which you can't as it's a measure of instantaneous power, lumens per meter, but what the heck as I'm sure not calculating PAR watt-meters per hour), I get 221,000 lux per day on the plants. That's about three hours of direct sunlight (six equivalent, really, as my output spectrum is less wasteful than sunlight).

But with no UV and precious little IR. The plants need time to "tan," just like we do, or risk a burn.

If you see crumpling leaves, cut back the time. If you forget about them, no big deal...but correct that as soon as possible.

Thanks, Morph!

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Close enough for government work, but be sure to put them where not only where they get sun, but wind.

If they are leggy, back off on the fertilizer, strip all the lower leaf clusters off and bury them. I use the ole fashion half gallon paper milk containers and by the time I finish the whole carton is full of planting medium and roots busting the seams. Just one big huge mass. Then when time to plant, I strip all the leafs off except the top ones and bury them all the way just leaving the top leaves above grade level.

Thanks, TW!

You guys are much appreciated!

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I buried my tomatoes because they are leggy as heck. They are 7 inches tall after burying them, so they were probably close to 10 inches but about a half pencil thick. tiny little buggers. they have nice leaves on them, i just wish the stalks would thicken up. I set them outside for about an hour yesterday and lost two. snapped right off at the base. I'm not sure how to get them to thicken up! i havent used any food, and they are in Jiffy mix. The light is also only about 2-3 inches overhead. I might bury them again, but i've ran out of room in the containers. I'll need to switch to milk cartons to get the depth required.

jfd.lew wrote:I buried my tomatoes because they are leggy as heck. They are 7 inches tall after burying them, so they were probably close to 10 inches but about a half pencil thick. tiny little buggers. they have nice leaves on them, i just wish the stalks would thicken up. I set them outside for about an hour yesterday and lost two. snapped right off at the base. I'm not sure how to get them to thicken up! i havent used any food, and they are in Jiffy mix. The light is also only about 2-3 inches overhead. I might bury them again, but i've ran out of room in the containers. I'll need to switch to milk cartons to get the depth required.

That's the correct response with tomatoes, which you can practically entomb so long as you cut away the leaves on the stem and leave a few up top above the soil line.

I'm a little worried about some of my red spider zinnia, which are heading skyward at a rapid rate. I keep running my hand across the top of them to slow growth and strengthen the stems, plus have a fan on the shelf on medium. We'll see.

Fortunately, if the root mass is strong, neither the tomatoes nor the zinnia are necessarily down for the count. They may re-sprout from the break, so don't give up hope on them just yet.

I stuck one of the boys in a milk carton up to his throat as a test. I know that tomatoes will go deep if you allow them too. Not much more and I might hit max depth in my garden when I plant them lol!

Ill stick a fan on them to get them a little less comfy.

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I feel two weeks to harden off tomatoes is excessive. I usually give them about 3 or 4 days of a couple of hours of late afternon sun or early morning sun. They usually get sunburned leaves, but most of them get pulled off when I plant them deep. They grow so fast that once planted they put on new growth fast enough to make up for the removed or damaged leaves.

My peppers I give an extra day or two. They grow a little slower

I put my tomatoes out tonight. I'll wait until the weekend for my peppers.

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